Rhubarb-Mandarin Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

I adore sweets, but not if they're too sweet. My desserts need to be set off with a note of complexity. I like contrast. I like tang. I like sour. I like tart...and my daughter? She likes pink.

Enter this morning's culinary hero: rhubarb.

Despite my black thumb, I am always blessed with rhubarb in abundance. My mother-in-law makes sure of it. Many of my Colorado neighbors find their gardens overrun with it, as well. Rhubarb is hearty, after all. It can withstand anything (except a lawnmower - story for another day). It grows in tall, generous stalks. 

Rhubarb is a truly mighty plant.

So what do we do with this strange, stringy, bitter-tart vegetable?

Judith Fertig said it best, I think, in The Memory of Lemon. "Sometimes a little bitterness could bring out the best in other flavors. Bitter rhubarb made sunny-day strawberry face the realities of life - and taste all the better for it. As I brushed the cakes with a deep pink glaze made from sweet strawberry and bottled rhubarb bitters, I hoped I would change rhubarb doubters."

This is my humble attempt to do the same.

With the homespun comforts of butter and brown sugar, the delicate aromatics of mandarin orange, and the soft texture that comes from sour cream's inclusion, this simple treat is sure to be a summer favorite.

Ingredients 

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 mandarin orange, zest and juice

1 cup sour cream

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups rhubarb, chopped and frozen

Directions 

1. Preheat your oven to 375.

2. Prepare your bundt pan. You can do this the classic way, by rubbing it down with a generous amount of butter and then dusting your pan with with flour. Personally, though, I like to take a shortcut. Feel free to use a baking spray that features flour as an ingredient instead.

3. Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a stand mixer. Leave it to mix on high for 3 minutes, or until the result looks light and fluffy.

4. Lower your mixing speed to medium-low. Add the eggs in one at a time, scraping the bowl frequently.

5. Add the vanilla, mandarin zest, and juice. Your batter should start to smell amazing right about now!

6. Add the sour cream.

7. Now it's time to thicken the batter with your dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, and salt. Add them in little by little, scraping the bowl often. Wait until the previous sprinkling is well incorporated to add the next bit.

8. Lastly, stir in your rhubarb pieces. I recommend using frozen whenever you are baking with fruits or vegetables. They keep their integrity better this way, rather than blending in and becoming a mushy swirl. Feel free to substitute/mix your rhubarb with other frozen fruits.

9. Using a rubber scraper, transfer your batter to the prepared bundt pan.

10. Bake at 375 for one hour. When it's ready, a toothpick stuck in the middle should come out clean. Remember, ovens can vary a bit - you may want to check on your cake at 50 minutes to be sure.

11. Allow your cake to cool for several hours, or overnight if possible, on a wire rack.

12. Place a large plate over your bundt pan like a lid, flip the whole thing over, allow to settle, and then gently remove the pan.

13. Enjoy!

There are many ways to serve this cake. You may opt to go traditional and smother it with your favorite glaze or icing. You could make it classically fancy by dusting your cake with confectioner's sugar, like I did in the picture above. A fruit garnish is always pretty. You can serve it birthday style, topped with ice cream, too. 

Since this recipe isn't overly sweet, you could also get away with leaving your cake unfrosted and treating it as a breakfast bread. After all, a muffin is just a cupcake without frosting. Why fight it?